


crash landing

by thespacenico



Series: klancemas 2018 [12]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, M/M, PINING KEITH, Sledding, i have no idea how to tag these, keith stares a lot, more keith and allura bonding!, some surprise romellura, we already knew this but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 18:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17064899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespacenico/pseuds/thespacenico
Summary: klancemas day twelve: sledding





	crash landing

**Author's Note:**

> okay this was honestly just kind of a filler prompt but i PROMISE things are gonna start... moving along in the next one :)

“You still haven’t told him?” Hunk asks.

It’s freezing. It’s freezing, it’s windy, there’s snow sneaking its way into Keith’s boots and he is freezing. He hunches underneath the collar of his coat and pulls his hood up.

“That’s a solid no,” Pidge concludes, and because Keith is a nice person he doesn’t make fun of her for the way her glasses keep fogging up every time she breathes out even though she’s being—Pidge.

“I was going to,” Keith mumbles defensively. “Last night.”

“What stopped you?” Allura asks.

Keith shoves his hands into his pockets and hunches a little more. Hunk sighs. Allura pats his shoulder.

“Why is everyone suddenly so invested in my love life?” Keith mutters.

Pidge snorts. “Not just _your_ love life—”

Hunk coughs and shifts the two sleds tucked underneath his arm and Allura shoots Pidge a warning look and the only reason Keith doesn’t notice is because he’s looking ahead at where Lance is walking beside Adam and Shiro, chattering excitedly despite the freezing cold. Because ever since Adam and Lance beat Shiro and Keith at a game of pool yesterday, Lance and Adam have been the best of friends, and Keith isn’t sure if he should be excited or terrified.

Adam’s and Shiro’s fingers are tangled between them, their arms swinging back and forth a little while Adam smiles and nods at whatever it is Lance is saying. Judging from Shiro’s occasional interruptions and the way Lance keeps waving his arms wildly in the air, Keith figures Lance is probably telling a story from their time in space.

He tears his eyes away and stares down at his own feet dragging through the snow, chewing on his lip while Hunk and Pidge start to pull ahead, already arguing about something completely different. Allura lingers behind, smiling cheerfully as she watches everyone else going on ahead of them.

They walk in silence for a moment; Keith knows she’s probably just trying to give him some space without leaving him by himself completely, which is—nice of her. He’s still getting used to the idea that he doesn’t have to compete with her for Lance’s attention (not that he ever was, but still). He feels a little guilty that he ever felt any sort of ill will toward her, because she’s always been so kind, and caring and generous despite everything the universe has thrown at her.

 _Lance used to like her,_ Keith’s brain says thoughtfully.

Allura’s voice replays in the back of his mind. _Actually, we were talking about you._

It’s impossible for him not to feel hopeful, but if Lance used to like Allura— _Why would he like you?_

“You look upset.”

Keith starts a little and glances over at Allura, who’s watching him with that familiar look on her face, head tilted slightly. It takes him an extra second to realize that he’s frowning, and he sighs, forcing himself into a neutral expression. “Sorry. I’m not—” He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

She tugs a little on the scarf wrapped around her neck (complements of Hunk) and gives him a sympathetic smile. “You said you were going to tell him last night.”

“I—” Keith huffs and shoves his hands a little deeper into his pockets. “Yeah, I _was.”_

Allura seems to wait as if she’s expecting him to continue. He doesn’t. “What stopped you?” she asks again.

“I don’t know! Nothing did, I just—I looked at him and I just—couldn’t.” He breathes in and exhales, watching his breath. “That sounds dumb.”  

She laughs softly. “Of course it doesn’t.” Keith kicks a little at the snow and hunches further underneath his collar against the wind, and then he tenses a little when Allura is suddenly linking an arm through his, gently placing her other hand on his arm. “Keith, you told me that you’re here for me. At least let me be here for you.”  

Keith lets out a sigh, relaxing and slumping his shoulders a little. “I know, Allura. Sorry. It’s just—weird.”

“Yes, I suppose it seems strange talking to me about it after our—miscommunication.” She smiles and squeezes his arm a little when his face flushes and he laughs, a little sheepishly. “But I understand, you know. After all, I probably can’t say much considering I still haven’t said anything to—”

Keith’s eyebrows shoot up and his head snaps toward Allura just as she cuts herself off, her eyes widening slightly and her arm stiffening against his. “Whoa, okay hold up—you’ve been holding out on me!”

“No!” Allura shakes her head vigorously, her eyes darting forward as if to make sure no one else is listening. “No, I haven’t—of course I haven’t!”

“You met someone,” Keith insists as she buries her chin into her scarf. “Back on the Altean colony we helped free. Is it someone I know?” Allura just shakes her head, and it makes Keith’s chest feel a little warm because he’s never known her to be shy which means she must be really serious about this mystery person. “C’mon, Allura. I won’t tell.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” she mutters, tightening her hold around Keith’s arm when there’s a particularly strong gust of wind.

Keith hums. “I bet Krolia knows, doesn’t she? I’ll just ask her, then. In fact—” He moves to pull his handheld out of his pocket. “Why don’t I message her right now—”

“I like Romelle,” Allura blurts. And then her cheeks darken when Keith makes a surprised noise and stops in his tracks, which forces her to stop in turn.

“You like _Romelle?”_

“Shh!” Allura jerks him forward again before anyone notices that they’ve stopped. “But you can’t tell anyone, Keith.”

Keith hops a step to catch up with her, laughing a little. “I won’t, I promise. But—Romelle? Allura, that’s—I had no idea. She’s great, really—how long have you liked her for?”

“It’s a bit of a new development,” she sighs. “She was the one who convinced me to accept Adam’s invitation to come back to Earth for your holidays. Coran and your mother have been terribly busy reorganizing the colony so I was afraid to leave, but she insisted.”

“Probably because you’ve been just as busy,” Keith offers. “You deserve the break.”

“Yes, well—” Allura chews on her lip. “I wanted—to tell her. Before I left.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “But you chickened out.” She makes a sort of strangled noise of despair, and it’s so funny and out of character that Keith can’t help but laugh.

“You’re just as guilty!” Allura cries defensively, but the corner of her mouth betrays her when it turns up.

“I guess we’re both hopeless,” Keith says, and Allura shakes her head at him but she smiles anyway.

“Hey!” They both look up at the sound of Shiro’s voice a ways ahead of them. Everyone else is gathered around him, turned to look in their direction. “Hurry up, slowpokes!”

“That’s no way to speak to a princess!” Keith calls back, and Allura laughs. Keith spots Lance still standing next to Adam, a funny sort of smile on his face as he watches them that grows into something more genuine when his eyes meet Keith’s. Then Adam leans over and mutters something under his breath that has Lance stifling a laugh.

When Keith and Allura finally catch up, Shiro and Hunk are dumping the sleds they carried from the cabin onto the ground. Allura slips out from Keith’s arm as Hunk peers uncertainly down the slope that they’re standing on. “This looks really steep, Shiro. Are you sure about this?”

“It’s not as steep as it looks,” Shiro assures him. “Adam and I tried it out before you all got here.”

“If Adam can do it, you can do it,” Keith adds.

Adam throws his hands in the air. “You two act like I’ve never done anything cool in my life.”

“You teach astrophysics for a living,” Keith mutters, and Lance snorts as he ducks away when Adam tries to ruffle his hair.

Allura seems to be the most excited of them all to sled down the slope (Coran tends to worry, but he’s not here to stop her), so she goes first with Pidge, both of them giggling wildly and eyes sparkling with excitement once they’ve trudged back up the slope. Lance manages to convince Hunk to go by promising to go with him—Hunk decides after one go that sledding isn’t for him (“Didn’t he pilot a Lion? In outer space?” Adam asks later). Adam makes Keith go with him their first time as revenge for his earlier comment and purposely tips them over at the bottom, and then Shiro follows immediately behind and nearly knocks both of them back into the snow.

Pidge elbows Keith approximately three times as time goes on, which is fair because Keith maybe can’t stop staring at Lance when he’s climbing up the slope, his hair ruffled from the wind and his nose and cheeks pink from the cold and the biggest smile on his face as he waves up at everyone as if he just hopped off a ride at an amusement park.

So he’s decidedly not ready when Lance eventually tugs on his coat sleeve, bright eyed and kind of out of breath from his recent climb, and says: “Go again with me.”

Keith blinks. “Oh. Right now?”

And then Allura maybe accidentally pushes him in the back a little and Keith doesn’t have time to shoot her a look over his shoulder before Lance is tugging him in the direction of the free sled already sitting atop the slope.

His heart is fluttering nervously in his chest as he settles on the front of the sled, hyper-aware of how close Lance is behind him—even more so when Lance wraps his arms securely around his waist, his breath tickling the back of his neck. “Think you can steer straight enough?” he asks teasingly.

“I’m gay,” Keith deadpans, and Lance bursts into laughter and it vibrates in Keith’s chest so happily that he can’t help but smile, even though he thinks his cheeks are burning and he can perfectly envision Pidge facepalming behind them. "So no, probably not." 

“Onward!” Lance declares anyway, raising a fist in the air, and then Keith kicks off and they tip downward and start quickly accelerating down the slope.

And because the universe just loves Keith, amidst all Lance’s excited whooping and yelling in Keith’s ear and the wind whooshing through his hair and the snow racing by underneath them, of course— _of course_ —they happen to hit a single lump on the ground just right that sends them both flying off the sled. Lance’s cheering turns into a startled yelp when they hit it.

All Keith knows is that one second he’s on the sled, the next he’s in the air, and then he hits the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of him but he doesn’t have time to breathe because he’s rolling and rolling until he and Lance are both lying in a tangled heap of limbs in the snow, and Lance apparently physically cannot stop laughing.

“Told you I can’t steer,” Keith groans, which only sends Lance into another fit of giggles. Snow cascades off Keith’s coat as he slowly sits up, shivering a little when a clump falls down the back of his neck. “Are you okay?”

Lance sticks a thumbs-up into the air. “I’m great,” he says breathlessly, and then he starts laughing again. “Let’s do it again.”

Keith untangles their legs and leans over Lance as he gasps for breaths between giggles, only half-aware of the stupid grin all over his face. “Bet I can beat you to the top of the hill.”

“That’s—” Lance snickers. “That’s cheating. I’m—emotionally incapacitated right now, just—”

“See you at the top!” Keith gives him a grand salute as he climbs to his feet, and then turns and promptly trips right back into the snow when Lance grabs his ankle.

Which is what leads to both of them rolling around in the snow at the bottom of the hill, tackling each other back to the ground every time one of them manages to get up, breathless from laughing so much.

And Keith doesn’t even remember how it happened, just remembers that at some point Lance manages to pin Keith to the ground underneath him, eyes glittering and breathing hard and smiling triumphantly, and suddenly Keith doesn’t have it in him to fight back anymore because his sides ache from laughing and all he wants to do is stare.

He slowly stops struggling against Lance’s weight and relaxes into the snow as they both try to catch their breath, Lance still working through a fit of giggles and it’s so—cute, and Keith can’t even try not to stare because Lance is literally on top of him and there’s nowhere else for him to look except at him.

Lance takes a breath and grins. “Giving up so easy?”

Keith just nods, not trusting himself to say anything, but his casual smile must not be very convincing because something in Lance’s expression—changes. His own smile fades a little, his brow creases a tiny bit, he blinks, and _wow his eyes are even bluer up close_ and suddenly Keith has this—ridiculous urge to reach up and cup Lance’s face in his hands. And he swears he nearly does, only they both start a little when they hear Adam yelling at them from the top of the slope.

“Are you guys done down there?”

They blink at each other. Keith doesn’t realize he’s been holding his breath until Lance lurches away a little suddenly and rolls off with an easy laugh, leaving Keith lying awkwardly in the snow trying to keep a blush from creeping up his neck. He breathes out as Lance climbs to his feet, his usual grin already back on his face as he holds his hand out. “C’mon, I’ll race you for real.”

(Keith lets Lance win, in the end. He trips halfway up the hill and practically faceplants into the snow just to sell it, and it was totally worth it even if it was just to hear Lance burst into laughter again.

Someone still had to go back and get the sled, anyway.)

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on [tumblr](https://www.taxashi.tumblr.com)!  
> 


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